Coparenting

Co-parenting involves parents who together take on the socialization, care, and upbringing of children for whom they share equal responsibility. The co-parent relationship differs from an intimate relationship between adults in that it focuses solely on the child. The equivalent term in evolutionary biology is bi-parental care, where parental investment is provided by both the mother and father. The original meaning of co-parenting was mostly related to post-divorce parenting arrangements. Only later did the term become extended to shared parenting before divorce, i.e. in intact nuclear families. Since the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989, the principle that a child has to continue to maintain a strong relationship with both parents, even if separated, has become a more recognized right. The concept of co-parenting was continued to be broadened to all adults serving as parental figures or caretakers for a child--including grandparents or other family members, romantic partners, and close friends whether co-residing or not.